UCL Phase 2 Study findings on Statistically-Significant Increased Death Rate of London Bus Workers

Keith Prince: TfL’s UCL Phase 2 Study on Bus Driver Deaths from Covid-19 reports that bus drivers – even after adjusting for ethnicity, age and home address – were twice as likely to die from the general population during the period from March to December 2020.
As TfL Chair, do you accept that TfL by (a) withdrawing its inspection staff from depots where there were infection clusters at beginning of the pandemic, (b) being unaware that bus companies were continuing to use small vehicles for ferrying bus drivers to and from their route, (c) not receiving any Covid-19 risk assessments carried out by its contractors, and (d) depending on Unite Health & Safety Officers with unknown levels of safety training to report bus driver safety concerns, played an important role in this poor safety outcome for bus drivers?

The Mayor: The focus of the UCL Phase 2 Study on Bus Driver Deaths from COVID-19 was deaths between March and May 2020, with the authors acknowledging it was too early to draw definitive conclusions about later deaths, which were outside the main focus of their review. The finding that you’ve sought to quote here relates to that shorter three-month period at the very start of the pandemic, and not to the ten-month period March to December 2020 as you’ve suggested. Importantly, the Phase 2 report then goes on to restate its conclusion from Phase 1 that the high rates of mortality in London bus drivers in March to May 2020 were largely a result of infections acquired before lockdown on 23 March, and goes on to state that “this conclusion is now supported by two recent national analyses”. The virus was, of course, much more prevalent in London than the rest of the country at that time, and lockdown was the most effective measure for reducing mortality among bus drivers.
The points you’ve raised have been the subject of previous Mayor’s Questions. I do not believe these factors contributed to the tragic deaths of bus drivers from coronavirus.
Transport for London (TfL) has continuously engaged with all its contracted bus operators to ensure a joined-up approach and that safety arrangements on site were suitable and sufficient during the pandemic.
Precautions were taken by those bus operators that utilise ferry vehicles to ensure they were regularly cleaned, carried fewer employees, and that controls were in place to increase ventilation and require face coverings to be worn.
TfL scaled-back on all physical visits at the height of lockdown in accordance with the prevailing Government advice. Reducing the number of people in the workplace (and potentially moving from garage to garage) that could pass on and spread the virus was a sensible step to take and complemented the approach being taken by the operators to limit the number of personnel on site.
I’m confident that every bus operator has arrangements in place for staff concerns and complaints to be raised. Additionally, all London bus drivers have access to the confidential incident reporting service provided by CIRAS. Management staff at the bus operators performed their own checks and supervision to ensure coronavirus controls were in place and being adhered to. This has been supported, but not led, by Trade Union representatives, giving an additional level of assurance that Public Health England guidance is being followed.